


Dear Persephone

by LadyStardust97



Category: Saint Seiya
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Body Horror, Emotional Manipulation, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Violence, unreality, very short chapters but this will be long
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 48
Words: 6,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28084857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyStardust97/pseuds/LadyStardust97
Summary: Shun starts dating his college professor.
Relationships: Andromeda Shun/Cygnus Hyōga, Andromeda Shun/Hades
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

It comes to him in a dream one night.

A light hand on his face, that feels warm in an odd way. Not comforting. Not cold. Like something that may have always been there, before he even noticed it.

" Will you come home with me?"


	2. Chapter 2

" And the two brothers held down-"

Shun was taking down notes in his Pre-Christian European Mythology course, lost in thought. As he scratched down shorthand for the branch of the Mabinogi his professor was droning on about, the dream bothered him.

... It felt too real.

... A strange dream.

Shina nudged him, and then motioned slightly down to his paper.

It was indented, but his pen had run out of ink. He hadn't noticed.


	3. Chapter 3

The Russian exchange student with nice hair briefly met his eyes for a moment as they walked by each other outside the student center.   
There was always something strange to it when they crossed paths, as though they should both stop. Neither of them ever did.


	4. Chapter 4

Seiya was helping the RAs bring in supplies for a party in the dorm lobby. Shun couldn't quite remember what it was celebrating, but they were getting free cookies and hot chocolate, so it didn't really matter, did it?

He watched from a sofa, not letting himself look down at the work he had due the next day.

Even if it was just idly sitting by... He liked being around such things.

He wasn't sure how to ask if they needed help. It seemed like Seiya had gotten everything already.


	5. Chapter 5

There was a girl with purple hair in his dream. No, a woman? He wasn't sure; she seemed like two people that were still just one person.

She was speaking to him from up on a throne, but he couldn't make sense of her words. It was like being underwater.

She looked sad.

He woke up with a start, with a headache at the edge of his memory.


	6. Chapter 6

" You've been kinda sorta out of it lately, huh?" Seiya asked him. They were walking to their next class.

" I, yeah, yes, I... I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something important?" Shun answered him, with a great deal of hesitancy.

" Maybe you accidentally missed a deadline for a paper or something," Seiya suggested, a decent pass at being helpful.

" Yeah, that's probably it," Shun said, his confidence restored just a bit.


	7. Chapter 7

In his dream, he was in a garden; a really beautiful garden. He was sitting down alone.

There were people, off in the distance, just barely out of sight.

They were laughing, and happy.

He looked down at the empty tea cup in front of him. The empty kettle. The empty sugar dish, with its little tongs.

He wanted to get up.

He stood.

He walked towards the voices.

They remained very far away.

" It's the darkness in you... You'll never quite be with them, you know," a soft voice soothed, a familiar one, but he couldn't turn to see it.

He was back in his seat, looking at himself, the self that had walked so far away.

" Wait, don't leave me alone," he said.


	8. Chapter 8

... He darted into the student center for lunch, his hands brushing against the same readymade sandwich as the exchange student. The Russian exchange student. Tall, toned, blonde.

They both back off, and hesitated, each trying to gauge the other's intent.

" Um, you can have it," Shun said, trying to break the weird silence they'd always had.

" It's not really my favorite, I was just grabbing something cheap," he responded, evidently trying to urge Shun to just take it and get the stilted half-conversation over with.

" N- I mean, yeah, same, I just, don't want to be in your way..." Shun tried to excuse himself hurriedly.

" It's not that big a deal," the exchange student responded.

" Yea- yes, it's not, you're right."


	9. Chapter 9

He had a dream about melting ice.

Melting ice.

Melting ice.

So why was it so warm?

It was a dream about sharing his warmth with someone else.

The exact why and how eluded him.

Just that... his armor was bitingly cold. So he discarded it.

His clothes were clammy and soaked with melted ice.

 _Oh, you can't let him know you're feeling like this_ , he thought to himself.

But who?

Who was 'he'?

He woke up in a cold sweat, his blankets pushed to the floor.


	10. Chapter 10

" Hey, could you take this to Shina?" the RA asked him.

He did a doubletake, looking at her face. The one that hung out with Seiya all the time. She suddenly looked eerily familiar, in a way that she hadn't in weeks prior.

" Is something the matter?" she asked politely.

" N- no, nothing. I'll take it up to her now. I was going to go ask her about notes for our exam coming up, so, good call, Saori."

She smiled at him.

" I'm great at working this stuff out," she said.


	11. Chapter 11

Again, at the little table outside, all set up for tea.

He tried to stand up, and found that he couldn't.

He could hear people- voices- just out of sight-

" Unsightly, isn't it..."

" Shouldn't we just seal him away?"

" Lady Athena already ruled his ways unjust..."

" But, it's a shame..."

" Ahahahahaha... It's a shame, it's a shame..."

" For her little human beings... Lady Athena will do most anything, won't she?"


	12. Chapter 12

" This is... the entrance to the underworld?"


	13. Chapter 13

He normally went to the campus gym for light, occasional workouts, and so never paid much mind to the pool.

Now, as he was checking in, he found his attention straying there.

It was deep autumn. They'd have a fall break soon (though he was staying on campus for that, like always).

But, despite the cutting chill outside, the Russian was still swimming. Practicing. Did he swim competitively?

It didn't take him long to notice that Shun was staring.

He heaved himself up onto the side, wiped his face down with his towel.

" ... Are you here to watch?" he asked.

" N- no, I was going to... jog, but, this is the first time I've seen you here, so I got distracted," Shun said, and then internally cursed himself for how it sounded when he put it like that.

" I don't mind," he responded.


	14. Chapter 14

" ... Is this the entrance to the underworld?"

" Yes, we'll have to stay on our guard... we don't have much time left to rescue Lady Athena," Seiya answered, striding down the nearly endless staircase with an enviable amount of purpose.

Shiryu's long black hair was flowing out behind him, and though he was closer, it wasn't by much.

In the back of this grim parade, Shun's hand kept brushing against Hyouga's. He didn't mean them to. But they were walking closely together, almost side by side, on the narrow steps.

There was no particular reason that they were.

The air was cold, very cold.

There was a sharp tinge to it, like the aftermath of blood.

It was very dark.

Their hands brushed together again.

" ...Hyouga..." At this, he voiced the mildest complaint he could; just calling his name, dinstinctly unsettled by the atmosphere.

" Here. Don't let go of me," Hyouga responded, his voice not betraying any sort of change or emotion as their hands knit together.

He wasn't sure how to respond to this. Utter confidence. That being held was what he wanted. What his voice had been raised in concern about.

He could hold his own, after all.

He was a capable fighter.

He'd fought for Athena many times in the past.

But it felt good to have someone to hold his hand.


	15. Chapter 15

" Snow's going to start falling early this year," Saori said, standing by the window.

" Ah, is it? We should have a dorm snowball fight," Seiya suggested.

" You're so hotheaded... Honestly, Seiya!" Marin chided, and flicked his forehead.

Marin. The other RA.

" It sounds like it could be fun," Shun called from across the lobby. He was seated, reading a book he couldn't quite pay attention to.

The mouse... was really a queen... was really the wife of a dead man...

" Shun, you're not supposed to agree with him! It's inciting violence!" Marin yelled back over to him.

" Aren't you being violent right now?" Shun asked, pointing out the small flurry of back and forth pushing and pulling between the two.

" No! I'm an RA," Marin protested.

... They all looked so happy.


	16. Chapter 16

This was the entrance to the Underworld.

They were standing in front of a huge gate. It seemed... wrong.

The eyes of the demons that glared down at them seemed too lively.

" Are you... really alright?" Seiya asked.

" Mhm," he managed to say.

" Shun..." Hyouga raised a hand, as though to offer support.

" I'm just a little faint from our fight with Rhadamanthys," Shun said. " I already feel better. Let's get going."

The gate, touched by hands that had been saturated in divine blood, began to open.


	17. Chapter 17

" Is something wrong?"

The exchange student pulled himself out of the water, and placed a cool hand against his forehead.

" I- I'm fine?" Shun managed to say.

" You feel like you're running a fever," he replied.

" I'm fine, Hyouga, I'm fine," he insisted.

" It's too cold out for you," he insisted further.

" We're inside right now, though," Shun replied.

" And? It's still winter. You can still get sick."

"... Winter?"

" Yes, it's the first day of winter."


	18. Chapter 18

After great insistence, Shun let Hyouga walk him back to his dorm.

It was getting dark out, and snow was starting to fall.

... It really did feel far too early in the year for it.

He stood at the door and watched Hyouga leaving, his figure wavery in the distance.

It was all growing darker and darker.

Soon the scattered streetlights were all that was left.


	19. Chapter 19

In his dream, a very beautiful man sat across from him at the little tea table.

" Shun," he said, like he'd known him for a long time. " Shun."

Shun blinked, coming to attention.

" Yes?" he asked.

" Do you like it here?" he asked.

" I... I'm lonely. I can't get up to leave. My cup is empty. People I can't see keep saying strange things," Shun replied.

" Here," the beautiful man said. He picked up the kettle, and poured Shun a hot cup of tea.

" It's blueberry-pomegranate," he said.

" Oh, that's the kind I keep at home," Shun replied.

He leaned forward, and, taking up his cup, took a sip of it.

" I know," the beautiful man said. " I'm you, after all."

" No you're not," Shun replied blithely. " I don't have black hair."


	20. Chapter 20

He woke up very late at night or very early in the morning. He couldn't tell which. His mouth tasted of copper. He'd bit his tongue while he was sleeping.

He crawled out of his tiny, shitty dorm bed and went to the bathroom and swished warm water around his mouth, spitting it out. Only the faintest trace of brownish red in his saliva. Disgusting. At least it hadn't bled that much.

He didn't feel right in his room. It was too empty.

... Had he... ever even had a roommate?

Oh, right, he'd cancelled before the semester started. Unexpectedly.

So it was empty.

Shun stepped out into the hall, and walked down to the lobby. It was eerie, quiet, lights out, TV off. The darkness outside didn't permit any reasonable measurement of time.

He sat down in one of the more comfortable chairs, and got out his phone.

The wind outside was howling.

It felt mournful, like a memory.

Snow piling up on window panels.

Symphony.

The trees, bowed by fresh weight, the sky, collapsing down, the building, echoing such a vast nothingness that it was a sound all in its own.


	21. Chapter 21

In the snow, in the snow, what he saw was a beautiful human being.

This man, dressed down in austere black, age indeterminate due to sheer beauty, turned to look at him, standing outside the building.

" Your professor for Classical Greek Mythology has had an unfortunate accident," he said. " I'm the student teacher the school assigned in his place."

Shun tried to remember where he'd seen him before, but he could not.

" Oh, I hope he recovers soon," Shun replied. " It's nice to meet you- what's your name-?"

" Class starts soon. Come in," the man said, walking to the building.

His steps made no sound in the heavy, heavy snow.


	22. Chapter 22

" ... Do I know you?"

" Do you?"

... They were back at that little table.

" Hey, it's not funny... At least tell me your name..."

" Are you really..." A slight, calculated pause. " Such a maiden?"

Shun recoiled from that a bit.

The man lifted up his hand, a fluid motion, reached up to the empty serving tray on the table and picked up a beignet from it. He had... neat, unchipped black nail polish, many silver and onyx rings.

" Don't you think that... such things are ostentatious?" he asked, bringing it to his mouth. " I've always found that... my aesthetic sense leaves little room for jewelries."

It touched his lip. He took a bite.

Shun looked down at the neat, carefully arranged dish of beignets. He wasn't sure if he wanted one.

" Everything that's here is mine," the man said. " So everything here is yours."

" I don't understand..."


	23. Chapter 23

" I don't understand..."

His marks were going up. He wasn't sure what he did, wasn't sure if he had done anything different at all. Maybe the student teacher wasn't so harsh at grading as the others in the class made him out to be.

" Well, it's a good thing, isn't it?" Saori asked. Something about her face looked unpleasant. " You're happy, aren't you?"

It felt like a strange, pointless thing to ask.

" I, yeah- yes. Of course. I'm not really complaining, I'm just... confused."

" Maybe your memory has gotten better since that fever you had a while back," Seiya said, knocking his forehead.

" Seiya-- Oh, that... that wasn't that long ago. It was only like last week, wasn't it?" Shun asked.

" Yeah. Right. Kind of hard to remember stuff like that..."

He and Marin immediately began a small argument about his forgetfulness.


	24. Chapter 24

" Judgment. Judgment upon these poor souls. Judgment."

The clanging of a gavel.

" Do you really believe yourself sinless? Do you really believe all the death and sacrifice is worth it? Do you really believe that the people you've killed were villains? Do you really believe that my master is in the wrong? Do you really believe that you are justified? In judgment one cannot err; in death we find our absolution. I judge you... I give you the death sentence! I send you to Cocytus!"

While the pain of binding swept him up, he felt many regrets.

He couldn't fight his regrets, like Seiya. He couldn't placate the gods with just confidence.

His vision blurred in and out. He could see Seiya struggling. Of course Seiya would struggle. Seiya was Seiya.

He had to charge ahead and do everything. He was the one who defied the words passed down by greater, stronger things.

But Shun wasn't that. And he wasn't even necessarily weak-willed. But somehow the words wormed their way into his heart.

He hated killing. He hated death. He hated violence.

Of course he regretted those things, even if they were... Even if they were...

" What's happening-? ... No, you're not... No-"

There was cold, deep, dark water, somewhere.


	25. Chapter 25

In the library, he saw the student teacher drinking black coffee by the café. He was leaned up against the wall, by the doorway, a copy of a book on Italian cathedrals open in his other hand.

" Shun," he said.

Shun was taken aback that he had been acknowledged.

The student teacher folded his book close neatly, a tassel of a bookmark falling from within, and stood properly away from the wall.

" ... Is it alright for me to call you professor?" Shun asked. " ... You still haven't told me your name."

" What are you doing here? Coffee, research, both?" the student teacher asked.

He took another sip of his drink.

" I... was going to pull some reference for my term paper. In a different class," Shun said, quick and awkward. " Can you t-"

" Do you want to help me find something?" the student teacher asked.

" I..."

" I lost my necklace yesterday, upstairs. In one of the side rooms. I would appreciate help," the student teacher continued.

" Oh. Haven't you asked the librarians if it's been turned in at the lost and found-?" Shun asked, following him as he walked.

" Yes... Well... They're of little help," the student teacher said coolly. He was turning down a dimly lit hallway.

He hit a button.

" ...I didn't know the library had an elevator," Shun said, as the doors slid open.

" It always has," he replied.

The doors closed behind them.

The shaking hitch of ascent seemed to last a moment too long; when it smoothed out, the ride was short.

" Thank you for helping me," the student teacher said.


	26. Chapter 26

... With unadorned hands, he took a sip of tea.

" ... Are you comfortable?" he asked.

" I want to get up," Shun said. " ...It feels like we've been sitting here for a long time."

" We can't," he replied.

Shun sat back, looking at the sky.

" Oh," he said.

A few moments of silence ticked by in the dream, as he thought about it.

" Aren't you going to protest it?"

" ...I don't even know if I have the right to."


	27. Chapter 27

" ...You wear jewelry?" the student teacher asked.

Shun, leaving the class, jumped slightly and turned to him.

" It's just a necklace," he said. " It's been in my family for a long time."

" It's pretty," the student teacher said.

A blush misted Shun's cheeks, but he said nothing of it; he left quickly.


	28. Chapter 28

In the evening, he thought that surely there was something he was forgetting.

He was working on a rough draft for this term paper, but in the middle of it, he froze up; his eyes wandered, and he couldn't concentrate.

300 words a day. That wasn't much. He couldn't focus. Something was bothering him. He slid his hand down to the pendant of his necklace and gripped it, trying to remember. He'd had such dreamless sleep lately. He couldn't remember the last time he dreamed.

What couldn't he remember? What couldn't he remember? What couldn't he remember?

" Oh, hey, Shun. I haven't seen you lately," someone said.

He turned around in his computer chair to see Hyouga settling in next to him.

" Hyouga," he said.

" Have you been busy?" Hyouga asked.

" Just... a bit," Shun answered.

They continued to work on their respective projects for a while.

Hyouga finished, and stretched.

" Do you want to get something at the café next door before heading out?" he asked.

" Yeah- Yes, that'd be nice," Shun answered.


	29. Chapter 29

They were in his dorm room, listening to music, taking occasional sips from their respective drinks. Shun had gotten just plain coffee with a little sugar, but Hyouga had a large vanilla bean frappucino.

" I'm surprised you didn't get something sweeter," he said. 

" I think I have pretty sensible taste," Shun replied. " I don't like... stuff that's like, artificially sweetened? It tastes kind of sickly and medicinal to me."

" Fake sugar, hm..."

As he was leaning over, his phone alarm started ringing.

" It's already five...?"

" What's up?"

" I... guess I lost track of time," Hyouga said. " I have a late appointment with the exchange student office at 5:20. I should go ahead and walk over there."

" Oh. Okay."

" Let's meet up again tomorrow?"

" Y... yeah."

" We normally see each other at the student center anyway, don't we?"


	30. Chapter 30

" I can't accept it... I won't accept it... You can't..."

" I have to."

" This isn't what how I wanted this to be."

" ...I have to."

" Please don't leave me."


	31. Chapter 31

Water stinging his eyes.

" Shun, are you alright?" A thin hand was tepidly placed on his shoulder. He was leaving class. Was he leaving class? Everyone else was leaving class.

The student teacher was smiling at him, gently. With concern. With warmth.

" I... I don't know?" Shun answered after a moment.

" Step into the office with me for a second, I'll get you a tissue," the student teacher offered.

" Alright," he said, following him as his hand fell away.

To the side of the lecture hall, a door opened to the office.

There was a very large painting covering most of the wall behind his desk.

" It's a reproduction of one of Goya's Black Paintings," the student teacher said. " Isn't it lovely?"

He reached to his desk, and opened the box of kleenex on the corner, drawing two out.

" The Witches' Sabbath," Shun said.

" In every era, there exists repression of those who pursue their natural state," the student teacher said.

Shun dabbed at the tears that had rolled down his face with the tissue he had been handed, staring at him. He was standing in front of the goat-headed man, turned slightly, like a stage actor cheating out. He could've been slipped into the painting, or a part of it all along; walking canvas in jet black.

" Well, thank you... I have to go, I have an appointment to keep," Shun said.

" You don't have to go anywhere," the student teacher said. His voice started melting. " You can stay right here."

" No, but, I do really have to go-"


	32. Chapter 32

" ...to see my friend."

His phone went off as his mouth closed, uncertainty crawling down his nerves.

He forced his eyes open, staring up at the room's ceiling.

" Are you alright?" the student teacher asked.

" Wh... What?" he sat up, staring down. He had three missed calls. 

" Earlier, you said you weren't feeling well, so I let you lay down in here. You have a bit of a fever. Do you want me to walk you to the campus clinic?"

" No, but, I had somewhere to go today..." Shun protested. " How late is it?"

" It's well past five. It's starting to get dark out," the student teacher said. " It's snowing again tonight. Shall I walk you back to your dorm?"

" I'm not, um, I'm..." He put his hands to his face. " I don't have a fever."

" You'll be fine," he said. " I'll take care of you."


	33. Chapter 33

... When was the last time he...

Went out?

" Shuuun! Earth to Shun! You're zoning out again!" Seiya called to him.

" What are you doing?" Shun asked.

" Washing the lobby windows," Seiya answered. " Saori asked me to, and I don't have anything better to do."

" ...Oh."

" Don't you have a date today with that Russian guy or something? Shina told me all about it, said you wouldn't stop talking about it in class," Seiya said.

" ...I don't really... talk during class," Shun answered.

" Well, whatever. Just uh. Come back soon. We'll miss you. If you're gone for too long."

He continued washing the windows.


	34. Chapter 34

" I'm glad you're here," Hyouga said. " I was worried you wouldn't come."

" I would never skip out on you," Shun answered.

They were standing in front of a fountain.

" What's your favorite place for lunch?" Hyouga asked.

" Uh. I normally get something from the cafeteria, or sometimes I walk down to the bagel place?" Shun said.

" The bagel place is closer, and I have a discount card," Hyouga said.

They started walking to it.

" What's it like to swim?"

" You can't swim?"

" I don't really like to."

" It's nice. I live in fear of drowning. But it's for my mother's sake, so I continue on."

" Your mother?"

" ... She died a long time ago."

" Oh. Sorry."

" What about you?"

" I don't have any family," Shun said. " I've been alone for a long time. It's starting to hurt me. I can't get out of it. No matter where I look, I can't leave. Sometimes it's like I don't even know that I want to leave."

" I'm trying to help," Hyouga replied, voice unsteady. " But it's hard. It's so much harder than I thought it would be."

" I guess we're both alone, then," Shun said.

" Can we be alone together?"

" I... don't know," Shun answered.

They crossed the street to the bagel place.


	35. Chapter 35

" You like nova lox?" the blackhaired stranger in his dream asked.

" Yes but, without onion," Shun replied.


	36. Chapter 36

" Your rough draft for the term paper is very interesting," the student teacher said, at their appointment to discuss it.

" I've just always liked that myth... if Andromeda," Shun answered. " It feels personal to me, somehow."

Saturn, devouring his son, leered down at them from behind the student teacher's desk.

" But you know," he said. " No one rescued Andromeda. They fed her to the monsters."

Shun blinked, hesitant, unsure of how to reply.

" That's not..."

The eyes on him started melting out, vitreous fluid soaking into the parched canvas like it had been starved.

" Aren't they such sad things?" he asked.

" I don't know what you mean," Shun said.

" They're not even trying," he said. " Look. It's brought you to tears again. They're not even trying..."

He took a tissue from the box on the desk and reached across, patting tears from Shun's eyes.

" They're not even trying. If they said they are, they've lied to you. I loved your paper," he said.


	37. Chapter 37

In the library, he ended up on the top floor. Just to look. It was mostly more in depth reference material, stuff that couldn't be brought out of the building.

He entered a sideroom.

His necklace was there, on the floor.

But it wasn't his. His was still around his neck.

" Oh, you found it," the student teacher said, opening the door behind him. " I've been looking for that."

Shun's brow knit, holding it, trying to understand what it was that he was feeling.

" You have the same one as me," he said. " I thought mine was ... one of a kind. I was told it's a family heirloom."

" I's certainly a great coincidence, isn't it," the student teacher said.

He took it, and placed it around his neck.

" Come clasp it for me," he said.

" Alright?" Shun said, reticence evident. He went behind his back and quickly, delicately, clasped the necklace close. It went the same way his own did.

" What were you doing up here in the music score room?" the student teacher asked.

" I... Aren't we supposed to be quiet in the second floor?"

" It's fine. There's no one here to hear us," the student teacher said.

" You don't know that," Shun replied.

" I was looking for organ music for..." He looked very concentrated for a moment, as though he was uncertain how to speak. " A friend."

These words seemed unnatural coming from him.

His walk had a gentle sway to it, as he perused the various folios of sheet music. Shun found himself falling in step with his movement.

" ...What piece is it?" he asked.

" Isn't it ironic that they've put the music up where we're supposed to be quiet?" the student teacher said, selecting a thin black volume.

" I guess so," Shun replied.

" Contradictory things... Sounds of silence..." His eyes slid over to where Shun stood. " But we're both speaking anyway, aren't we."


	38. Chapter 38

_Where are you? I've been waiting. I'm worried._

How much time had passed? It was already late, and no one else was out. Even the lights lining the campus sidewalks seemed to be dim.

" Should I walk you back?" the student teacher asked.

" I'll be fine," Shun said.

" It's dark, and no one else is out," he replied. " I would be worried."

" ...Alright, then."

The snow crunched as they walked down together, breath misting in the thin, sharp air.

" Did we really spend so long in there?" Shun asked. " It was so empty."

" Does it matter how much time has passed?"

" Shouldn't it?"

They walked by the empty expanse of the track field. Snowed over, a white horizon that seemed to stretch into oblivion. The night was starless and dark.

" ...Sometimes I feel like something is wrong," Shun said. " Like there's something I'm forgetting."

" You shouldn't be so concerned," the student teacher said. " It's probably the stress."

His hand brushed against Shun's in the dark. It was cold.

" But... it seems important," Shun said.

" If it's really so important," he said. " You'll remember it when you need to."

" Oh. Do you think so?"

They stopped in front of his building.

" The moon was beautiful tonight," the student teacher said. " I'll see you tomorrow."


	39. Chapter 39

... He stuck around for a moment, after class, watching the student teacher neatly tap a stack of papers into order, set them into a folder, set them into his bag.

" ...You're waiting for me?" the student teacher asked.

" I just. To talk," Shun replied, uncertain of how to word it.

His phone pinged, but he didn't check it.

" To talk?" the student teacher asked.

" I really appreciate you walking me back to the dorm," Shun said. " It was cold. I was lonely."

" I'm glad you feel that way," he replied with a smile.

Shun wasn't sure what else to say.

" With your paper..." the student teacher started.

" My paper?"

" I meant to say earlier... That your proposal of a myth variant where Andromeda is saved... is sweet," the student teacher said. " It would be such a nice world to live in if that were true, wouldn't it?"


	40. Chapter 40

The river ran thick, like blood. It was all too much. It was too much.

" Shun, are you alright?"

" Let's keep going," Shun said. " We have to keep going."

" We should wait for your-"

" I'm not weak, Seiya. I know you and I handle these things differently, but I can make it through. We have to go save Saori."

" ...Right," Seiya answered.

He continued up the steps, not looking down at the desolate half-world behind them.


	41. Chapter 41

At the student center, he unexpectedly ran into the student teacher. He was speaking with someone else; a tall man with long blonde hair.

" Oh, Shun. This is my friend who works in the music department," he said, gesturing to him.

" I've heard a lot about you," he said.

" Oh. Really?" Shun asked, a bit taken aback.

" Of course," the man said. " You're the professor's favorite student."

He turned back to the professor, and continued speaking.

" ...Like I said, I have two extra tickets, if you'd like them. Some of my students cancelled unexpectedly."

" It's a shame that they've cancelled," the professor said. " I've heard interesting things about the show."

Shun looked between them, uncertain.

" What show?" he asked.

The professor looked over at him. He felt self-conscious, as his phone was going off in his pocket from several texts.

" It's for a ballet," he said. " Swan Lake."

" I didn't know we had a ballet troupe in town," Shun said.

" Would you like to go with me?" the professor asked. " I'm afraid I'd have little reason to go otherwise."

Shun felt his face light up red, and was embarrassed, because surely the professor didn't mean it that way.

" If it's alright with you," he said.


	42. Chapter 42

" No one's texted me in a while..." Shun said out loud with a sigh, looking down at his blank notifications bar.

" Aren't you kind of a homebody anyway?" Shina said, tapping her long fake nails on the study room table. He didn't even dare to glance at the work she was struggling with; she was mostly in mathematics courses, a subject he felt intimidated by. " You were complaining last week that you only get texts from your floor's groupchat and the RAs."

...Her brow crinkled up, as she looked at him intensely, like how he'd reply was somehow important.

" But I..." A weird taste bloomed in his mouth. " I gave my number to the professor."

" Ah? You're chasing older men? When did that start happening?" she asked, perking up at the idea of getting to gossip.

" It's not like that!" Shun replied, stressed.

" I thought you... Never mind. Anyway. Why'd you give him your number? Is he hot? He'd better be. If I see some loser white bread guy in an ugly truck I'm-"

" Please just stop, Shina," he said, cradling his forehead. " ...I'm starting to get a headache."

" Hmph. You've gotten a lot ruder lately," she huffed. Tapped her nails on the plastic table again.

" We're just going to see a ballet because his friend had extra tickets and he invited me along, anyway," Shun said weakly.

" That's like, harmful stereotype levels of gay," she said. " Incredible. Really. I think Seiya would _die_ if I tried to make him go to something like that. He'd just keel over dead."


	43. Chapter 43

He dressed up as nice as he could manage, waited quietly in the lobby for the student teacher to pick him up.

The snow picked up, practically into a howl. He wondered if they'd be able to go at all.

 _I'm outside. Hurry so you don't catch a chill_.


	44. Chapter 44

The room was stiflingly almost too hot, causing him to feel faint when he stepped in from the cold.

" Is this your first time at the opera?" the professor asked. " You look nice in a suit."

" I just have it because my friends are getting married soon," Shun said, somehow embarrassed.

" That's nice... A wedding in the winter heralds the coming of spring," the professor said.

They walked up to one of the boxes and took their seats. Shun could see a sea of people below, indistinct and rustling around in the dark like water lapping at the walls of a cave.

The lights went completely down, and the curtain rose.


	45. Chapter 45

The thin, pretty actress that played Odile was like something cut out of gossamer and wrapped in a waifish human skin. She swirled around, effortless, all angles and bones that melted into smooth motion.

Odette confronted her, tall and blonde, and in the climactic scene, Odile gave a wail like a wounded bird, a trill, as she sunk down to the floor.

The other actors all froze in their places, and the light narrowed down, focused only on her.

She began to cry.

" I love you," she said. " I love you. I love you more than I ever let you know, because I couldn't let you know. I didn't want to do this for the sake of my father. I wanted you to come back to me. I love you, Odette. I would do anything for you! Every day! Every day I saw you flying to swim on the lake! Every day I watched you! Every day I spoke to you through the door! I love you!"

She started to bang her head on the stage floor as her voice cracked, messy and broken.

" I can't let you go! I can't give you to someone else! I don't care what the others think! I love you! I love you, Odette! I love you! I never cared about the prince! I never wanted him for myself! I wanted him gone so you would come back to me! Please love me, Odette! Please! This is the last chance I have! They won't let me come back! They won't let me come back again! Please love me, Odette! Please! I don't care if the world dies! Please love me, Odette! Please! Please! Please!"

Her shrieks were desperate, unnerving, carried with them the real pain of the blood splattering on the set.

" Please! Please! Please! I can't come back again!"

Shun realized that the student professor was watching him instead of the monologue. His face, eerily pale, was the only other thing illuminated in the dark.

He realized he was crying, wordless, and couldn't understand why.


	46. Chapter 46

Before stepping into the car, the professor caught his coat, and turned him around.

They kissed in the snow.


	47. Chapter 47

" I don't know. It was nice, but the ending was different somehow? I can't really remember much. It was like a weird dream," Shun said.

" What's with you and your memory issues?" Shina complained at him. " Anyway, do you have those mythology notes?"

" Yeah, here," he said, digging them out.


	48. Chapter 48

He went to the athletic center to jog; he hadn't done so in a while, and needed to clear his head.

He walked by the pool room, closed for the winter.

He hadn't been swimming in a while, but it'd be nice to pick it up when it reopened in spring; he wasn't entirely sure why, but he wanted to go in.

When he started running, though, it didn't take long for him to feel faint.

He stopped earlier than normal.

...How strange. Maybe he did have a fever.


End file.
